Book lovers never go to bed alone. ~Author Unknown

Heartwarming from the home of a Master Chef

The Book

Homemade

Author(s)

Simon Gault

Year

2013

What it says on the back cover

Nothing…

but

four lovely photographs of four of Simon’s dishes that he has created for this book.. Inside the back sleeve is a blurb about who Simon is and what he does. For those of you who are unfamiliar with Simon Gault, he is one of New Zealand MasterChef’s three judges (Ray McVinnie and Josh Emett make up the other two) from the series MasterChef New Zealand.

Gault is one of New Zealand’s finest chef’s who owns seven restaurants dotted around the country. This is his third recipe book.

What made me pick up this book?

Being a fan of the MasterChef New Zealand series I have followed this for quite sometime now. I have also read Simon’s other two books- Nourish and Euro– which was based on the chef’s restaurant in Auckland (New Zealand). I am also a follower of Simon’s Facebook page so when I heard he had a new cookbook out this year, I waited patiently to get it out from my local library before I can contemplate on whether to purchase the book further down the track or not.

Is this book worth buying

This book is a foodie or MasterChef series watcher’s delight as viewers will instantly recognise the five-percent-magic words as they scroll through the contents page. Simon uses this phrase when he cooks which adds that little something special to a dish. One of which is truffle oil “an amazingly pungent oil is infused with flavour from the addition of white or black truffle” (pg 227). Simon’s book, like Gary and George’s (see previous review) has been well executed and delivers some of the nicest recipes from both Simon and his parents who he credits to being his best friends. Its title is perfect and compliments the recipes well and has a list of ingredients that most of us can find in our pantries at home. Some of course like the truffle oil, you will need to purchase in a delicatessen or a specialist supermarket . A refreshing book made with love, I enjoyed Homemade and learnt a little bit more about yet another MasterChef judge outside the television and who graces our screens.